Crime, punishment, and criminalization of early south asians in Northern california

[1854]A Bengali man had $150 stolen from his trunk. He and two other Bengali friends went to the police to file a complaint, and a warrant was issued. [Daily Alta California, Oct 21 1854, p 6, col 5, "Robbery at the Lagoon"]

[1858] A lascar (perhaps South Asian?) was arrested for drunkenness, presumably in San Francisco. The newspaper described his name as "a tangle of unpronounceable syllables." [Daily Alta California, May 4 1858, p 2, col 2, "City Items: An Asiatic Drunkard"]

[1862] "Oriental" lascars Ramelin and Mahomed forfeited their bail after they failed to appear in court after they were charged with a misdemeanor. The two may have been South Asian. [Daily Alta California, Aug 19 1862, p 1, col 2, "Police Court Proceedings: Penalties"]

[1862] Two lascars (perhaps South Asian?) were among a group of men brought in for, presumably, drunkenness. The group of people in police court for drunkenness included "two Russians, two Chinamen, two negroes, one Kanaka, one Lascar, two Mexicans, two crinolines, and a dozen more who pass for white men when sober." [Daily Alta California, Sep 30 1862, p 1, col 3, "Police Court Proceedings: Black Spirits and White; Blue Spirits, Etc."]

[1887-8] Moore, a Parsee Oakland resident accused two white women living in his "bachelor hall" (rooming house?) of stealing money from his pants pocket. They were convicted of petty theft. The women returned to Moore's after their sentence—and, according to the newspaper, one of them was "relieved of an heir" (no idea what this means). Moore was "by profession a horse jockey, by occupation a whitewasher." (SF Chronicle Aug 21, 1887, pg 8 "Sentenced for Vagrancy,"; SF Chronicle, Feb 3, 1888, pg 3, "Oakland Items")

[1907 ★] "Roor Singh, an East Indian coolie, was killed by the Berkeley local [train in Oakland] between Park Avenue and Fortieth Street this morning." [SF Call, Jan 24 1907, p4, "Killed by Train"]

[1907-1908] In November 1907, 37 South Asian workers in Oakland were scammed by a white employment agent who collected $400 to supposedly take them to a job. In March, employment agent C.C. Patterson was charged with embezzlement for promising the workers employment in Honolulu, then disappearing. ("Hindoos Fleeced by an Employment Agent," SF Chronicle, Nov 12, 1907, pg 11; "Hindoos Charge Agent With Embezzlement," SF Chronicle, Mar 20, 1908, pg 19)

[1907 ★] White neighbors tried to instigate police action against three households of South Asian workers in West Berkeley. The police initially refused to comply with attempts to push out these workers, declaring that they would "take any necessary steps to prevent any attack upon the foreigners," fearing "open trouble" if the men "persist" in staying in the neighborhood. Just four days later, when one of the South Asian men apparently started a fight in the back yard, the police descended — arresting 14 South Asian men late at night, none of whom were apparently responsible for starting the fight. The arrests took place after White neighbors started demanding that “the coolies and Hindoos be cleared out of West Berkeley." The police arrested fourteen immigrant men—none of whom were responsible for the fight that was used as an excuse for mass arrests. They were eventually released, after they realized, with teh help of one "Moolah Singh," that they had failed to arrest the person causing the disturbance. We have a full write-up of the incident on our Secret Desi History blog. [San Francisco Chronicle, December 5, 1907, page 13] [San Francisco Chronicle, December 9, 1907, page 4]

[1909] Mirza Singh attempted suicide in Alameda. When he was saved, he refused to respond, suggested that he spoke no English, and appeared to indicate that he came to Alameda to look for his mother. By the next day, authorities discovered that the suicide attempt was fake, and he was hoping to get arrested to get food and lodging in prison; he was subsequently deported to Oakland, where "a number of his countrymen are living."

[1913]Said Ali Khan strangled and murdered Rosa Domingo, an 18 year old Portuguese woman he was involved with, then weighted down her body with iron and threw it in the bay; there were 20 stories about the case in the San Francisco Call alone, with Khan described as a mystic and hypnotist, and using "thugee" techniques. Khan was Punjabi, and 27 at the time of his arrest, and had a wife and mother in India. He and Domingo met while working together at the Metropolitan Match Factory in Stege (near Richmond). He would sometimes have Charles E. Riley, Domingo's "former sweetheart,"write letters to Domingo on his behalf. Domingo reported that she was afraid Khan would kill her; he described her demands for money and his impatience with her after he asked her to live with him and her presumed refusal. He eventually strangled her with his necktie as she slept, paid Riley $50 to assist in disposing of her body. Khan escaped after the murder, and police searched South Asian communities across the East Bay, San Francisco, and Peninsula, and near Mount Hamilton; Khan's roommate Musa Khan was arrested, but eventually not charged. Said Ali Khan escaped South, and after a 9 day manhunt, was arrested in Calexico, near San Diego. He made a full confession. Despite early threats of lynching, the trial went ahead. He pled guilty, and sentenced to life imprisonment at San Quentin.

[1915 ★] Berkeley police were called in after a dispute between an unnamed "Hindu" and a Black woman "Mrs. E. Endrews," who called the police about a dispute regarding a cleaning bill. The relation between the two is never made clear. Is she the property owner, or maybe a domestic worker? Is he the cleaner? The article is both racist, and vague on the details that interest us (though it may have been more clear to a contemporary reader). ["Colored Lady 'Lows No Man to Annoy Her," Berkeley Daily Gazette, Jan 18 1915, p1, col 6]